Cannon County

Short Mountain Bible Camp, at the top of Short Mountain.




I set off in a white van Tuesday with two women from Second Harvest Food Bank. They were traveling to a couple of outlying counties to do site visits. Just for those who don't know, a site visit is when a Field Representative goes out to the partner agencies either to get them set up initially, or to generally see how they're doing. There's a little bit of an inspection but it's not nearly as stressful say, as a visit from the Health Department or the guy from Codes showing up. It's more like a check-up at the dentist but without the drilling.

We ended our day with an excursion to Short Mountain Bible Camp. They didn't have a site visit scheduled but were kind enough to let us visit anyway.

One question that lingered on our minds throughout the trip was: How do the people who live that far out in the country manage to support themselves (jobs being sparse and gas being four dollars a gallon)? Are there (there must be) rural poor families who are no longer able to afford the commute?

Road trip

Met this really terrific woman named Carolyn, in Cannon County yesterday. She runs a food pantry at the Center Hill Baptist Church, just at the base of Short Mountain. Her pantry is about the size of a tiny bathroom closet but thankfully, there's plenty of space in the room that surrounds it for a couple of freezers and a nice-sized kitchen and dining area. They hadn't quite finished the kitchen part yet because, as Carolyn said, and she's absolutely right, "Money doesn't last as long as it used to."



The photo below is Center Hill Methodist Church, est. 1962, which is situated a stone's throw away from Carolyn's pantry. They aren't related but the architecture matches the feel of this rural community.